SEATTLE – Amazon is making another major delivery, this time for its employees: a $15 hourly minimum wage.

The e-tailing giant said Tuesday it would increase its minimum wage on Nov. 1 to $15 for all U.S. full-time, part-time, seasonal and temporary employees, including temps hired by agencies. That includes employees at Whole Foods, which Amazon acquired for $13.7 million in June 2017.

Amazon currently has more than 250,000 Amazon employees, and plans to hire more than 100,000 seasonal employees this holiday season.

“We listened to our critics, thought hard about what we wanted to do, and decided we want to lead,” said Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos in a statement. “We’re excited about this change and encourage our competitors and other large employers to join us.”

Amazon also said it would begin lobbying for an increase in the federal minimum wage, which is currently $7.25.

“The current rate ... was set nearly a decade ago,” Jay Carney, senior vice president of Amazon Global Corporate Affairs, said in a statement. “We intend to advocate for a minimum wage increase that will have a profound impact on the lives of tens of millions of people and families across this country.”

Sanders, who has introduced a bill called the Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies Act (aka the Stop BEZOS Act), complimented Amazon on the move. "What Mr. Bezos has done today is not only enormously important for Amazon’s hundreds of thousands of employees, it could well be a shot heard around the world," Sanders said in a statement. "I urge corporate leaders around the country to follow Mr. Bezos lead, and I congratulate him for what he has done."

Profiting from the internet revolution

Members of Congress have railed against Amazon for paying its warehouse workers far too little as it has grown to be the world's second most valuable company and its CEO the the world’s richest human being.

“If you work for Amazon full time and you still can’t make ends meet, that’s a problem,” said Rep. Ro Khanna, D-California, one of the bill’s co-sponsors.

While it’s unclear if Amazon’s move was a direct response to the introduction of the bill, the raise means that Amazon would no longer be subject to it — companies that pay at least $15 per hour or more are not affected.

Amazon has made billions by leveraging and building on the internet revolution of the past 20 years, said Khanna. “If you are profiting from changes in the economy, we need to make sure that everyone in this country has a stake in that economy.”

According to the job site GlassDoor, Amazon’s average wages at its fulfillment centers is $13 an hour. A rise to $15 is an increase of 15.4%.

It represents a rise to about $30,000 a year for a fulltime worker. The federal poverty level for a family of four is $25,000.

The change brings a typical fulltime worker at an Amazon fulfillment center from a salary that is just above the federal poverty line for a family of four to one that is 20% above.

“Amazon’s $15 an hour minimum wage is a sign they care about employees. Smart move to win consumers and law makers,” said Gene Munster, a venture capitalist at Loup Ventures and long-time tech analyst.

In a 2015 article in The New York Times, employees described a "soulless, dystopian" work environment of long hours and and a lack of empathy for employees' health-related issues. At the time, Bezos said the story "doesn’t describe the Amazon I know."

In a memo to employees, he promised to address the situation. "Even if it’s rare or isolated, our tolerance for any such lack of empathy needs to be zero," he wrote.